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Saturday, 15 September 2007

"Breathes there the man with soul so deadWho never to himself has saidThis is my ownMy Native land"

is what a great poet said on patriotism. It is actually hardly possible to get an instance where one belonging to his/ her own country talks ill of it instead of singing some praise for the mother land but just unfortunate as it sounds to be are the instances of ingratitude on the part of certain Indians -be they celebrities, writers or names to count as important otherwise. I came across certain writing of Naipaul recently whose ancestors belonged to India but could see in him a person who unhesitatingly talks all bad about his country blasphemically calling bad names to the people of the country passing several aspersions. Similar writings are that of Nirad Chaudhary who was always fond of ridiculing India and Indians conveniently forgetting that he too ancestorily belong to this country hailed as he did from Bengal. A rich cultural heritage for which India has been known throughout the world for thousands of years was never pickedup by these writers as their theme -they instead chose to trace some minor areas of negativity or the other writing volumes as if they or their ancestors were born in this country to behave as adversaries. There are many an Indians even today who boast of not knowing Hindi or other Indian languages making out a case for themselves as if they are proficiently conversant in English which aspect only reminds us that there are still many amongst us who take pride having remained slaves to foreigners -be it British or any other country. Such a tendency on the part of these people is only disparagingly disdainable and they have no right to claim any respect from their fellow Indians. People like Swami Ram Teerth and Vibekanand were the real champions to herald messages of cultural heritage of this country abroad and infact it is they who were capable of removing misunderstandings in the minds of foreigners particularly the Europeans that India was not a country of 'snakes and scorpions' as they got themselves taught but it was in real a terms a country that could awaken the world not only on a cultural heritage but equally on many other counts like Vedic Philosophy. Belonging to India in some form or the other opting to ridicule it are only those who honestly speaking deserve an all out condemnation and any laurels to them based on their writings must be just out of question.